May 11, 1883. 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



279 



lives ; their bones are now often found in the marl pits of 

 the Curragh. Numerous marine shells of species still Jiving 

 in our seas also occur in the sands and gravels of this 

 northern tlat portion of the island. 



Mr. MoNi uiiK D. CoswAY, in a remarkable paper in the 

 yeipca.^'lle Weekly Chronicle, points out that, though the 

 so-called cultured conceal the Tartar in their nature at 

 home, save in such matters as Sabbatarianism, oaths, and 

 prosecutions for blasphemy, it comes out when they are 

 away from home — not the schoolmaster, but the savage is 

 fieen abroad. 



TuE news of the defeat of the Affirmation Bill was re- 

 ceived with wild rejoicings in Ireland — naturally, for tltere 

 «ven 'the Invinciblcs religiously preface their villanies with 

 "So help mo, God " (and valiantly break their oath quite 

 traverse). Donaghadee and other centres of culture were 

 illuminated. 



Erewiion' Ixtelligen'ce. — "Year 1723 before end of 

 world, Oct. 3. — It has been the custom in our enlightened 

 country, all Erewhoners know, to regard as an oflence 

 punishable by tine or imprisonment, the use of statements 

 not confirmed by oaths of suitable strength. A measure is 

 to be brought forward at the next session of our National 

 House, which seems intended to free Erewhoners of la.x 

 morality from this religious obligation. ..." Nov. 10. 

 — " Strong feeling is excited throughout the length and 

 breadth of Erewhon against the proposed measure. Sir 

 Average Dullard has addressed his constituents at Bigots- 

 bury, the far-famed capital of Hypocrisia, roundly abusing 

 what he characterised as a measure ' for removing the 

 Creator from conversation.' Lord Borne Sa\age has also 

 addressed a large gathering of the Erewhoners of Tartar- 

 shire, denouncing a measure which would not only permit 

 the cultured to omit from their discourse the ' So help me, 

 God,' which even the inhabitants of Erewhyna employ 

 (at least theii- noblest race, the so-called Invincibles of 

 Ireland do so. we understand), but would deprive our highly- 

 religious lower classes of the privilege of hearing at every 

 third sentence, as now, the more familiar ' S'help me ' and 

 ' S'wulp me ' of the vernacular .... Hiatus valde defen- 

 dus . . . ." "Year 1722 B.E. of W., May 3. The hateful 

 measure introduced by an Atheistico-Agnostico-Materialis- 

 tic Government has been defeated by ten votes, amid a 

 ecene of wild enthusiasm. The followers of Sir Average 

 threw their particoloured caps into the air, and the cus- 

 tomary tokens of applause were given in a series of pro- 

 longed brayings. It is believed that Lord Borne Savage 

 will soon take his place at the holm of State." " May 4. 

 Eedaghanod is illuminated by bonfires, and it is believed 

 that the example will soon be followed by other cities 

 equally representative of Erewhon culture. Those among 

 onr people who justly claim (whatever the enemy may say 

 about shams) to be more earnestly religious than their 

 fellows may rest liappy — the cause of religion is saved." 

 . . . . Another hiahts .... "Year 1720, Before End 

 of World, ilay 20. The measure thrown out in 

 1723 is now passed, after months of contest. The 

 short-sighted objections urged against it in 1723 and 

 1722 are now estimated at their true value. But 

 Dnalire is mourning, and there is grief throughout Hypo- 

 crisia ; beadles and vestrymen gnash their teeth (such as 

 remain), and churchwardens propose to clothe themselves 



in sackcloth and ashes." — 1718, B.E.W [Answer 



to correspondent] — " It is well known that all well- 

 disposed and religious persons supported in 1723 the 

 measure relating to oaths which is now the law of the 

 land." — Extracts from sundry files of the Ereirhoii Times. 



FLYING FOXES IN AUSTRALIA. 



ONCE I visited a great " camp " of fruit-eating bats, 

 "Hying foxes," as they are here called {Pterojms 

 j)oHoceph(dus). 



In a dense piece of bush, consisting principally of young 

 trees, the trees were hung all over with these bats, looking 

 like great black fruits. 



As we approached, the bats .showed sign.s of uneasiness, 

 and after the first shot were rather dillicult to approach, 

 moving on from before us and pitching in a fresh tree 

 some way ahead. 



The bats uttered a curious cackling cry when disturbed. 

 Tliey were in enormous numbers, and although thousands 

 had been shot not long before by a large party got together 

 for the purpose, their numbers were not perceptibly 

 redu<^cd. They do great liarni to the fruit orchards about 

 Paramatta, and the fruitgrowers there organise parties to 

 shoot them. They have the cunning to choose a set of 

 trees where the undergrowth is exceedingly dense, and 

 where it is, therefore, difiicult to get at them. I shot seven 

 or eight, but they are very apt to hang up by their hooked 

 claws when shot, and 1 lost several. I could find no 

 Nycteribia living on these bats, although these insects are 

 usually so common on the various species of Pteropus. — 

 Prof. Moselij. 



The prizes and diplomas awarded to exhibitors at the 

 Crystal Palace Electrical Exhibitions of 1882 were dis- 

 tributed on Wednesday week by the Duke of Teck. 



The following passages from the excellent and really 

 judicial summing up of Lord Coleridge, in the Freetldnker 

 trial, are well worth studying, especially by Mr. Justice 

 North : — " It is true (if we regard this prosecution as a 

 piece of persecution) that persecution, unless thorough- 

 going, seldom succeeds And, therefore, no doubt 



the observation is correct, that, as a general rule, persecu- 

 tion, unless far more extreme than in England in the 

 nineteenth century is possible, is certain to be in vain. It 

 is also true, and I cannot help assenting to it, that it is a 

 very easy form of virtue. It is a more difiicult form of 

 virtue quietly and unostentatiously to obey what we 

 believe to be God's will in our own lives. It is not 

 very easy to do it; and it makes much less noise in 

 the world. It is very easy to turn upon somebody else 

 who diflers from us, and in the guise of zeal for God's 

 honour to attack somebody for a difference of opinion 

 whose life may be more pleasing to God and more con- 

 ducive to His honour than our own. And when it is done 

 by persons whose own lives are not free from reproach, and 

 who take that particular form of zeal for God which con- 

 sists in putting the criminal law in force against others, 

 that, no doubt, does more to create a sympathy with the 

 defendant than with the prosecutor. And if it should be 

 done by those who enjoy the wit of Voltaire, and who do 

 not turn away from the sneers of Gibbon, and rather relish 

 the irony of Hume, our feelings do not go with the prose- 

 cutors, and we are rather disposed to sympathise with the 

 defendant. It is still worse if the person who takes such 

 a course takes it, not from a kind of notion that God wants 

 his assistance, and that he can give it — le.-s on his oyvn 

 account than by pro.secuting others — but it is mixed up 

 with anything of partisan or political feeling, then nothing 

 can be more foreign to what is high-minded, or religious, 

 or noble in men's conduct ; and, indeed, it seems to me 

 that any one who will do that, not for the honour of God, 

 I^ut for the purpose of the ban, deserves the most disdainful 

 disapprobation." 



